July
26, 2007
Hungry
world of Dalits in Poorvanchal
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The so-called War against
Hunger started at the 1997 Rome Summit where world leaders pledged
to support programmes to eliminate hunger and alleviate poverty to
half of that time’s below the poverty line people who do not even
earn 1 USD a day. That time the number was estimated to be 864
million and half of them were in South Asia. It is strange that
since 1997, these world leaders have started forcing the third world
countries to comply with the norms that are essentially anti poor.
Social security is an old word of socialist era and considered to be
out of date in India. The Hindutva government that time was going
crazy over the India shining approach just ignoring a vast number of
masses who were dying of hunger and starvation. In fact, those of us
who were bringing these issues to the public domain were
discouraged. Media did not want to broadcast and publish the stories
which spoil the taste of their subscribers in the morning.
Background of the work on
hunger
That way 2004’s general
election was a watershed. It was an election fought on the false
premise of India shining. Despite hunger and starvation deaths in
various parts of India particularly Orissa, Rajathan, Chhatishgarh,
Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and
Uttar-Pradesh nothing moved much in the government front. People’s
Union for Civil Liberties filed a petition in Supreme Court in 2002
against the hunger deaths in 7 states. The Supreme Court issued
notices to these states and their anti poverty programmes and as a
civil society follow up of the entire case National Right to Food
Campaign took birth. The Supreme Court issued various directives to
the governments particularly in relation to Public Distribution
System, BPL Cards, Widow and aged pension schemes, Integrated Child
Development Programmes. The hearing continue but the real changes do
not occur.
The campaign was launched
on the premise that Food Corporation of India’s go downs were
overflowing with grains ( in fact grain got rotten ) while people
were living in abject hunger and poverty was a shame to India.
In the 2004 elections
therefore, when the UPA government came to power in Center, it
looked as if it has learnt a few lessons from the past government. A
National Advisory Council was formed with eminent names like Jean
Dreze and Aruna Roy were made members under the chairpersonship of
Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The government decided to renew the anti poverty
programmes. Since fund were never problems with the government’s
finance ministry went out to woe the rural masses. Campaign was
launched for a bill like the Maharastra’s Employment Guarantee
Programme so that every one gets employment. The government’s
bosses also felt that this programme could be a good idea to
implement their own liberalization and privatization process and
‘purchase’ the people with one hundred days employment.
One hundred districts
were selected for National Employment Guarantee Scheme for the first
phase. Now new districts have been added to the list but violence
continue in rural India. A large part of India is under the Naxal
influence and it is growing day by day. People are still dying of
hunger despite millions of dollars being pumped by the aid agencies
and the government. We must ponder over this situation otherwise
India’s poor will revolt one day and trash everything that we call
democratic.
Conditions prevailing in
Uttar-Pradesh
It is rather unfortunate
that despite a clear verdict of the masses against the concept of
privatization and economic liberlisation, the rulers do not want to
change their track. Earlier after the elections we saw over throwing
of the government in Haryana, Punjab Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The biggest turn around was Uttar-Pradesh. While the analyst might
claim that it was Mayawati’s Brahmin-Dalit combination that got her
victory, it would be simply generalizing the facts if we ignore the
fact the UP people also voted against Uttar-Pradesh Shining and
policy of private crony culture of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and his
government.
Therefore, when
Uttar-Pradesh was shining, just a few months back, I was getting lot
of information related to hunger and starvation deaths in the
Eastern Part of Uttar-Pradesh. During the past five years in
particular, having spend a lot of time with activists and villagers,
I realized that the aid agencies, the government and the so-called
civil society organizations are far removed from the grassroots
reality. Even the media was not reciprocating it at the national
level while the local papers were reporting incidents of hunger
deaths.
Four districts of
Poorvanchal (Eastern Uttar-Pradesh) namely Maharajganj, Kushingar,
Deoria and Gorakhpur witness the dance of death every year. Two of
these district Kushinagar and Gorakhpur were selected for the NREGA
programme while Maharajganj has also been selected for the same from
this year. All these districts saw a large number of deaths due to
hunger and malnutrition despite all these programmes. The pattern
was similar yet nothing happened. When we decided to move on a
Padyatra in these districts, it was in fact a reiteration of our
earlier stand about the failure of not only aid agencies and
government but also civil society. Let us investigate some of these
programmes and international campaigns.
18 tribal children died
in Raup village of Sonebhadra district in 2004 and the National
Human Rights Commission issued notice to the state government. A
very senior activist Late M.A.Khan would always question the
‘national’ campaigners who would come for a day in Sonebhadra and
disappear after ‘attaining’ everything. These national organizations
destroyed the local initiatives by creating division in them. Khan
died an unsatisfied man, a man who would have got huge funds to
support his work on hunger yet remain penniless till he breathed his
last. A mobile library in his ownself, Khan’s work was used by many
for their projects in the area.
What irked Khan was that
Sonebhadra has a large number of NGOs with ‘National’ outlook. These
days apart from being from the ‘press’ get you exclusive sitting at
most important places, a tag from human rights also give you
strength to manipulate things. With international human rights
organization jumping in local fray and acting as a party, the human
rights have become abusive term. Agencies write letters on every
individual cases of ‘dowry’, ‘rape’ ‘sexual harassment’ and
everything under the sun. These organizations are not running any
systematic campaigns but are totally depended on the fancy of a few
individuals who not only manipulate things but also pretend as if
they are the sole protectors of the civil liberties in their area
and their life is under the ‘threat’ from the landlords. The
agencies who support such propagandists forget to ask their own
background as a majority of them have established background and it
is rare that they would speak against their own family and caste
men. Activists from Uttar-Pradesh are rather smarter in this. They
claim to have been fighting against ‘caste’ system but do not give
any idea to local communities and people as what is the panacea for
it. These are provided to international masters only who present
them to their donors as their ‘work’ in India. Most of these
international fellows have got strong support from their own
communities, as it is rare they would speak against their own
community. Hence if you are a Thakur, you will bring the cases of
Brahmins, Yadavas, Kurmis for oppressing the Dalits terming them as
‘feudal lords’, while if you happen to be a Brahmin, the cases would
be different, so will be the case with Kurmis and others. Everybody
try to save the interest of their own community making the other
community oppressing the Dalits. So, the downfall of Uttar-Pradesh
is in the nepotism and propaganda that these human rights fellows
unleash through internet and emails.
The National Right to
Food Campaign became a tool to further their own interest and you do
not know how many of them exist in Uttar-Pradesh. The politics in
the NGOs is more rampant in Uttar-Pradesh. In the name of so-called
advocacy and lobbying they make every criminal case as a human
rights violation case and if their activists are involved in local
feud, it is termed as a threat to their life.
Development need
community centered approach
Aid agencies flocked to
Sonbhadra, Varanasi, Kushingar, Bhadohi, Bundelkhand and other such
‘poor’ district to ‘eliminate’ hunger yet despite all this people
continue to die of hunger. In Kushinagar district’s Koilaswa village
became the hub of activities for aid agencies. Number of community
organizations were created and their only visible work was ‘wall
writing’ related to the rights of Mushahars. One must ask these
agencies and their partners as where has the money gone and why even
a village with about 500 Mushahar families still have largest number
of hungry people and unsafe huts. This village saw 18 children dying
of Kalajwar several years ago. Most of the Mushahars here live in
huts. Very few of them have got the NREGA card to get some work.
None of them can claim to have got even 10 days work under NREGA.
Last year, when I visited to this village, a large number of huts
were burnt due to fire but this year some of these houses were being
constructed under Indira Awas Yojna. The Sarpanch, the secretary of
the Panchayats is corrupt say the people but where are the
organizations working. Why do they not organize people and take them
to the district magistrate and show them them the condition of the
NREGA schemes in the area. The fact of the matter is that we claim
to create a civil society in the poorest areas. My question is whose
civil society it would be ?
How come the work being
done on Mushahars, Scavengers do not have persons heading from these
communities? It is here the aid agencies have defaulted. They
promoted Dalit groups in the name of Dalit identity but rarely
bothered to check further whether the same kind of identity which
different caste groups are demanding have been accepted by them.
When we talk of scavenger or Mushahars or Rajbhars why is that it is
the people from other communities leading the movement and not from
them. The argument that these communities do not have ‘leadership’
skills is racist and brahmanical in nature and need to be
questioned.
It was this long thought
that came in mind trying to analyze the caste scenario with poverty
that I realize that developmental agenda would have to be community
based. Fifty years programmes of development never reached the
people. The targets were not specified clearly. They were vague and
not according to the demographic set up of the villages. Hence
Mushahrs, Bansfors, Rajbhars, Pasis and Chamars remained at the
margin. Though people might argue that after Maywati’s ascendance to
power Chamar have been ‘empowered’, this notion itself is wrong. The
community, no doubt, is politically assertive, yet economically very
marginalized in the Eastern Uttar-Pradesh and Bundelkhand.
Humanism Needed
Hunger is not natural but
man made with deep socio-cultural dimension. When the major district
of Poorvanchal, the rural poor do not possess enough grain to cook
two time a meal, the forces of rightwing Hindutva are equally
powerful. Just when Navratris are finished, the Goddess Tarkulha
Devi’s temple witnesses thousands of goats being slaughtered to
please the goddess. And it is not just one goddess, such temples
exists all the districts. Kushingar is famous Buddhist center as
Buddha preached here for 20 years and died at the end. Japanese,
Thai, Barmese, Korean temples are present here. More and more
religious groups are coming here to spread their wings. Not only the
famous Gorakhdham peeth headed by BJP MP Mahant Aditya Nath have
made great inroads among the communities but not on working against
hunger but hatred. You can find posters of Hindu Yuva Vahini
everywhere. At a place during our Padyatra when I asked to a
villager, as ‘which community he belonged to ?’, the emphatic answer
was that only
‘Hindus’ live here. Which
clearly indicate that they were not keen on speaking on poverty on
hunger but on anti Muslim rhetoric’s. In Deoria, we went to a
village called Mundera Mishra where a large number of fishermen
community live apart from the powerful Brahmins. As soon as we
started talking about anti poverty programmes, about the ration
cards and other such schemes, the people from Brahmin community came
and started altercating with us. ‘ As long as you will allow the
Muslims to eat everything that our country produces, we can not
alleviate poverty’. I was shocked to hear this as there were no
Muslims in the village and we were talking about issue of fishermen,
ration card and anti poverty programmes in the village.
Walking towards Rudrapur
from Deoria, we met with a group of boys catching rats. They
belonged to Rajbhar community. As mentioned earlier three
communities of Mushahars, Rajbhars and Chauhans are living in
pathological hunger and forced to eat rats. The children who should
have been going to school actually were grazing the cattle’s on a
rainy day. None of them go to school. The food situation in their
house was difficult. They caught several rats and took us to a
school to roast them like Kababs. One could see the glee in their
faces as they enjoyed their lunch after such hunger. One wonders
where the aid agencies have gone. Rajbhar and Chauhan community does
not come under the Scheduled Caste category but their condition can
not be regarded as better than the Dalits. Yes, they are MBCs and
are forced to live in isolation and ostracisation. It was village
Sarora where I did not see a single rajbhar house which could be
pucca.
On the road we met a
Rajbhar tractor driver who was not very happy with the turn of
events in Uttar-Pradesh. Clearly, his thoughts were not with Behenji
and were saddened with the demise of the Rajbhar party of Om Prakash
Rajbhar. I asked them as why don’t they organize community for their
socio-economic-cultural benefit. Why we need to politicize all the
issues when the basic issue of hunger and poverty have not yet
resolved.
Tragedy in Uttar-Pradesh
was that while people were politically assertive may be they have
sold their conscience to their caste identity but beyond that
nothing is moving. Normally, no body question their political
leaders for the work they are not doing. People do not seem to be
interested in listening to other communities. If you belong to same
community they become over enthused. This actually has resulted in a
generation of middlemen who sale the community for small pie.
In the Vindhyawalia
bastee of fishermen, I did not find a single house to be pucca. The
fishermen have lost their habitat because of soil erosion brought
out by the river Chhoti Gandak. In the absence of fishing people
migrate to other states particularly to Goa for sand mining. We saw
many of those exploited hands during our visit. It was shocking to
see how the mining has not only made them entire generation of
fishermen slave to several diseases including skin problems and
breathing problems.
In many Mushahar bastees
children do not go to school. At one village out of nearly 300
children, I could speak to only two who claimed they were going to
school. The schools are quite far and most of the time the parents
have no money to pay the school fee and hence are unable to send
them. Moreover, the exploitation is so much that children once
scolded by the teachers seldom go back. Local liquor is a daily
routine. Most of the women are involved in making liquor. During
summers Tadi is favorite drink. Even the children drink it for Rs
5/- a glass. They remain hungry during the entire day.
Japan government and
world bank are working on Maitryee Project in Kushingar which will
displace about several hundred small farmers as it need to acquire
over 600 acre of land to build biggest Buddhas of Bamiyan type. It
is very unfortunate that while Kushinagar and all these nearby areas
are witnessing Tandava of hunger for the past 10 years, none of the
so-called religious groups ever bothered about their fate.
Superstition is very high in the region and poverty is linked to
fete and the bad karma of the previous birth, therefore justifying
the current structure of injustice and exploitation.
That is one reason why
during our padyatra, we made it a point to raise the issue of right
over people’s resources and for dignity and freedom. Our campaign
was not just limited to land redistribution but against the
exploitative nature of our society, our caste system and ritualistic
religious values which dehumanize the people.
Environmental Dangers
It is strange that the
environmental degradation and its impact on communities such as
fishermen and farmers have rarely been raised in Poorvanchal.
Perhaps because during the past few years environment has become a
subject for the urban elite to discuss where they can think of
throwing the communities like tribal away from the forest. But, in
Poorvanchal, the issue is real and the threat as ever. All the major
rivers of Poorvanchal, Rapti, Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Amy etc are
thoroughly polluted. They have turned to gutter as the sewage
water of the distilleries and sugar factories flows into them. There
is no anti pollution measures and one wonder what is UP Pollution
Control Board is doing. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns of Kushingar
district the local sugar mills and distilleries are throwing huge
chemical waste in the river Gandak. The sewage water spills into the
fields thus destroying the crops. In fact many time there have been
agitation against the same in Ramkola where farmers are genuinely
agitated over the destruction of a vast track of their land. The
drinking water is contaminated and most of the people in area suffer
from various diseases. In March 1999 an agreement was signed in the
presence of district magistrate along with farmers and UP Sugar
Corporation Ltd under which the sugar mills had to develop sewage
water treatment plant and would pay compensation to the farmers. It
was also agreed that in Mathura Nagar area of Ramkola over 7 people
had died during 1999 with drinking contaminated water. Things have
not changed yet after so many years. One can see the burnt field
with stinking smell which make any one sink.
About 6 kilometer away
from Chaurichaura is famous Sardar Nagar owned by Sardar
S.S.Majithia whose terror also run in the village. Without any
treatment plant the sewage is drained into river Gurra, a tributary
of Rapti. Farmers are agitated over it and fishermen have lost every
thing, as there is no fish catch these days. Now, the village people
are planning to approach the court. When our Padyatra approached the
Sardarnagar distillery and was taking photographs and video shoot of
the area, the company stalkers started haunting us. ‘ Why have you
come here ? Who are you ? Show us your identity card ? I told the
person that we are on a Padyatra and are looking the environmental
hazards of the sugar factories and other mills in the area. And that
people are complaining and they have a right to seek redressal. The
person threatened us not to take further photographs. ‘ We have
certificate from UP Pollution Control Board’ he said and I retorted
back as why he was worried then?
Sardarnagar factories do
not have sewage line. A large number of sweeper who live in the
vicinity have been working on contract labour for the past 20 years
and their salaries have not gone beyond Rs 3000/-. They were shown
the door when they question for more salary and bonus etc . It is no
secret that manual scavenging is prevalent inside the campus of the
sugar mill and distillery as the toilets are kuchcha. While the
company may make the pollution control people fool by saying they
have now flush toilets, the fact is that inspite of that, these
toilets and their pits need to be cleaned annually and it is the
local Hellas (Muslim Scavengers) and Bansfors who are doing the
cleaning work.
Apart from chemical waste
in the rivers, the other threat to the rivers of Poorvanchal is from
the mechanized sand mining. Rivers particularly Chhotigandak has
gone deep down with sand mining and it is adding to the woes of
farmers every year during the monsoon as often it change the track
and erode the different area. Many localities, villages have been
permanently submerged because of this soil erosion by river Gandak,
and Ghaghara.
They are considered to be
the most dangerous rivers. In Gorakhpur district river Rapti often
play havoc and people still tremble narrating the horrific tale of
flood in 1999 and 2002 when hundreds of villages disappeared.
Thousands of hectares of land is now turned sandy and farmers have
no other choice but to migrate and become labours.
Prevailing Hunger and
malnutrition:
Navami is 25 years old.
He has three sons and two daughters. Living as an encroacher on the
road, he has turned saffron these days after a cow hit him on his
leg. The family went to a local Jholachaap doctor for the treatment
who has in fact destroyed his feet. He has become virtually disabled
and is barely able to walk. Navmi’s father lives about 200 meter
away from his Jhopadi in the Mushahar Bastee of Bishanpurwa village
in Premwalia Panchayat of district Kushingar. Bishanpura is
predominantly a Dalit habitat in which a substantial chunk of
Chamars and Mushahars live. Chamar because of the politicization
process in the past 15 years are relatively better organized and
aware of their conditions but Mushahar because of their lesser
numbers as well as worst economic conditions remains on margin. At a
distance of about 8 kilometer from the town Kasaya, Bishanpura
present two different world, one of the upper castes, mobile
backward communities and the other of Mushahars and Chamars.
Though the village
activist claim that the condition of Mushahar in this village was
relatively better than anywhere else but a visit to their thatched
hut reveal the truth. It is not just the war against a corrupt
society but cultural practice which has subjugated them for years.
Entering at many houses, I found people cooking snails. At many
houses the morning break fast was not ready yet.
Like many others, Navami
does not work and his physically challenge father earn livelihood
for him. His wife Akali is at the later stage of pregnancy. Looking
at her, one wonder, how healthy would be the child when born. ‘We
keep fast for most of the days as Navami is not able to work’, says
Akali. She adds that he is not interested in the family, as he has
now become a saint. “ But how come despite being a saint, you became
pregnant, I ask. Don’t you think that it is also your duty to
minimize your burden? Her small hut does not have anything. They do
not possess any ration card. None of them know about National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme under which every unemployed male or
female in a village would get a minimum of one hundred days work.
Now the UP government has increased the minimum wages to Rs 82/-.
But see the irony Navami has none of these cards. It would not be
surprising if in the absence of any government aid he and his family
starve. One can imagine as what would be the fate of his unborn
child. Navami’s elder daughter is at the field behind their hut
doing some work. I ask her about whether she has eaten any thing.
The answer is in the negative. She inform me that the family does
not cook and that she and her brothers remain hungry. By the time,
we were conducting our interview with her, Akali was going to beg
the left over food for their lunch.
B: Leelawati Gupta is a
young widow living in a small hut in Deoria district. Her husband
died of tuberculosis about eight months ago. Gupta was a Halwai who
could not afford the family of five children. The family left for
Siligudi in the hope for better future. The debt compounded and
therefore the local debtors took over the house of the family in
lieu of their debt. Gupta died of tremendous pressure. The family
did not have anything to eat. A good Halwai family turned into a
completely workless family. There was nothing to eat for the
children.
Today, Leelawati’s eldest
daughter is also left by her husband. She live along with small
daughter at her mother’s hut. Half of the week, they keep fasting.
No help came from any quarter. Leelwati moved from one place to
other but of no help. They did not have a ration card to procure
food items. There was no help from any where. The children for not
going to school but working. Four months after the death of her
husband, the Panchayat thought of her giving her a BPL ration card.
She sales the rice from the village and earn around Rs 35 a day but
that too in kind form. There is no other source of income. The young
daughter left by her husband is equally baffling her. The family is
on the brink of collapse and may use escapist tendencies to survive.
Idrish Ansari has a small
rehari shop of eggs. With a small gas stove, he make omelet for the
customers and also sale boiled egg. In the small town of … one does
not know whether he would be able to take care of his family of 9
children. He has got a small house under the Indira Awas Yojna but
that house cannot accommodate all the family members hence 7 of them
sleep in an under construction under ground floor of a house owned
by a local landlord. Idrish has a buffalo as well as horse for
marriage parties. But these days when the parties hire cars and
electronic items, the bridegroom in horse is becoming rare day by
day. The resources are scant day by day. Idirsh does not possess a
ration card and his condition show that the family and children are
going to face very difficult time in next few months if the help
does not come.
In the Deoria town we
visited the urban slums. In the Ambedkar Nagar bustee we met a
number of Bansfors. The families are living in miserable condition.
I met many children and none of them go to school. Most of the
people work part time and have no source of income. The women and
children are involved in manual scavenging. In the family of Six
children, I find them eating Sattu for their lunch. One of the child
was epileptic. He was unable to open his eyes. The wife presented a
miserable picture. There was no food. No government scheme has
reached the village. There was no ration card to procure subsidized
rice from the market. It was surviving on the edge and one can
rarely describe them to narrate. The child in the family was in
danger if not takes care properly. They are three families and the
card of Above the Poverty Line is issued to their mother. It was a
tragic site as how the sweeper community is facing not only
indignity but also ostracisation and starvation. The people claiming
to work on hunger are rarely reaching them.
36 families of Bansfors
are living in miserable condition on the road at civil lines. They
weave basket and barely earn Rs 30 per day. Most of them used to
sleep on the road till one day the district administration decided
to shunt them away to another place without thinking whether human
conditions prevails in that area or not. A number of women still
cry, as they have no other source to live.
Hungry Swachchakars
Hunger is everywhere. The
only difference is that your eyes and heart need to be sensitive
enough to hear those pains and miseries. NGOs have turned hunger
into a project for their own self without ever evaluating their own
work. It is rare to speak about urban hunger since most of these
cases occur in rural area but the Sweeper community in many of these
places is suffering in silence. Manual Scavenging is going well
without any stoppage. How do you stop without providing alternative
to the people? Most of the families were eating Sattu and children
do not go to school. No government scheme reach them and very few of
them had got ration cards.
In Rudrapur, I found a
happy scavenger mother telling me how her 9 years old daughter Arti
takes care of the family every day. Arti was grinding Mashala when I
met her. Afterwards, her mother took me to her hut and showed that
their girl can cook. It was shocking when I ask why were they
imposing family burden on a young child. Arti’s father was a
Rikshapullar and their earning was not enough to sustain the family.
They were not able to send their children to school.
We visited many homes and
saw their condition. Writing about hunger make you some time
repeating things but then it is the issue and we need to focus more
on them. In most of the municipalities including Laar, Rudrapur,
Deoria, Gorakhpur, Chaurichuara, Mau the condition need to be
assessed carefully. That manual scavenging is going on uninterrupted
because the government has failed them to provide any help and the
organizations of civil society used their plight for their own
purposes without making community feel that there is a
discrimination and they should stand up against the same is a
national disgrace and we all must take the blame.
In most of the
municipalities, many of the Balmikis were kept under contract labour
by Mulayam Singh’s ordinance. In towns like Laar, they had not got
their salaries till date after their appointment forcing the people
to reengage them in manual scavenging.
Right over resources
can not be compensated by NREGA and PDS system
It is ironical that
campaigns to eliminate hunger are not talking in terms of
livelihood. If situation has to be seen in this perspective, most of
the Mushahrs are dying because they are landless. They used to
depend on forest but that too has been out of reach for them now, as
forest department is getting murkier day by day. Rajbhars are
another community which is totally landless and live in complete
isolation. Their power of vote can not change much of the Panchayats
local political equations. We have seen how the NREGA and food for
work programmes are being appropriated by the powerful communities
of the village. Fishermen are dying of hunger because they have lost
everything. Their lakes are drying up and sewage water has killed
the fishes. Other communities like Chamars, Pasis, Chauhans,
Mushahars are totally landless and therefore workless. They are just
political in terms of their caste identities but their political
class seems not be interested in raising these issues of livelihood.
Even the workers of their community do not seem to be working on
socio-cultural revival of the community. Identity is fastly becoming
a tool for the political Dalals to mobilize people for their own
nefarious goals. This culture of considering communities as pocket
borrow will have to be changed in Uttar-Pradesh and that could only
happen if the agencies work wholeheartedly on an emergency basis
with community’s social organizations. Advocacy and Lobbying for
greater ‘national’ cause can not be bigger than the local cause of
the communities. Uttar-Pradesh does not have infrastrcture. Schools
are without teachers and toilets. The public distribution system is
in complete mess in Uttar-Pradesh. This is accepted by the advisers
of the Supreme Court in their report. Most of the eligible people
never got the entitlement and again the power elite in the rural
structure grabbed all these opportunities. But it is also a fact
there is nothing in the PDS which any good person would like to
purchase. Most of the people never get kerosene, and sugar on their
cards. In fact, the activists are now asking that it need to be like
supermarket where people should be allowed to procure all other
items like stationary, books, masalas, and ration on a subsidized
rate.
Government need to focus
on education, electricity and drinking water only then Uttar Pradesh
will shine for all. For the civil society organizations, it would be
better not to consider people as showing their strength in Lucknow
and Delhi but do some concrete work at the village level, sharing
their agonies and making them feel as part of civil society but not
as their leaders but developing leadership qualities in each of
these communities. Hunger will not end unless we challenge the very
basis of karma theory and bring people out of the religious rituals,
which make them bonded to thugs and tantriks. Hunger will not end
unless the government and organization feel that it is really not an
issue of charity but right over resources. Give the fishermen better
rivers and lakes and they will not ask for NREGA. Protect the
farmers from the onslaught of the spoiling factories and they will
do wonders. And finally do fill your promises to redistribute land
to all landless communities and I bet they will shine for us all. If
we do not learn lesson from other parts of the country and violence
growing there, the day will not be far when we will witness same war
in Uttar-Pradesh and peace would be the biggest victim.
CHAURI-CHAURA DECLARATION
Land, Dignity and Freedom
footmarch which covered around 140 villages, 7 urban slum in four
districts of Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur district,
It started from Tilakwania village in Ghughali town of Maharajganj
district on June 1st, 2007 and culminated at Chauri Chaura on June
22nd, 2007 with a total of 370 kilometers. Organised by
Uttar-Pradesh Land Alliance and led by Shri Vidya Bhushan Rawat,
Director, Social Development Foundation, Delhi, the Padyatra raised
the issue of hunger, land, water and sustainable development. Nearly
20 Padyatris including women and girls from the marginalised
sections of society walked this distance in scorching heat for full
22 days. It raised the issue of the failure of the previous
government to deal with the issue of livelihood of marginalised
communities and their continuous marginalisation through hunger,
malnutrition, poverty and depression. It also voiced its concern
over growing communalisation process as well as spreading of
superstition among the poorer sections of society. At many places
the marchers spoke to small gatherings, met people, visited affected
areas and conducted social audits of schemes like NREGA.
At the culmination of 22
days padyatra at Chauri Charua, we demand the following :
1. The government must
take special measures to improve the condition of Mushahars,
Rajbhars, Bansfors, Nonias, Machchuaras, Dom, Swachchakars, Pasis
and Chamars. These communities are living in abysmally degrading
conditions and need special measures.
2. In the Eastern
Uttar-Pradesh the Sand Mafias are controlling the rivers like Chhoti
Gandak, Gurra, Rapti and Ghaghara. The mechanized sand mining has
resulted in soil erosion by these rivers during monsoon. Thousands
of hectare of land has turned infertile. In Brahmapur region Rapti
has destroyed Ranapar area. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns in
Kushinagar district are facing severe soil erosion due to sand
mining. We demand immediate halt of mechanized sand mining and ask
the government to allow the fish worker to do the same but
government should fix up a limit for the same.
3. In many villages of
Eastern Uttar-Pradesh powerful local people have illegally grabbed
the land given to Dalits and Most backward communities. In many
villages, the Dalits are not even allowed passage to move out.
Government must ensure that every person live with dignity at
his/her land that every one has a right to access road in his/her
house.
4. The Sugar factories
and distilleries in Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Deoria, Rudrapur,
Sardarnagar
are throwing chemical
waste in the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Rapti, Amy and Gurra
resulting in heavy pollution in the rivers. The fish workers are
facing hunger, as the fish catch is almost nil. Apart from this, the
waste has spilled over to a vast agricultural land turning them
completely barren and dangerous. The ground water in most of the
eastern UP town is contaminated which is a severe threat to public
health. We demand immediate action against these factory/mill owners
and ask the government to compensate the farmers who have lost their
land to these mills. The Pollution Control board should be asked to
explain as why they continue to allow such hazards industries to
run.
5. In Kushingar and
Gorakhpur the condition of National Employment Guarantee Scheme is a
matter of grave concern. It has not been implemented accordingly. We
found work being done through tractors and people without work
despite having the valid card. The scheme seems to have failed
because of the connivance between the village Pradhans and block
officials. We demand severe action against erring officials to
implement the scheme and ask the government to form a monitoring and
evaluating committee which should include civil society
representatives.
6. In Poorvanchal, we
found lot of discrepancy in the distribution of ration cards. Those
who should have been eligible for the cards have not got it while
others have got it. We demand strong action the Sarpanches and
officials who are involved in nepotism and corruption. We also
demand from the government that the reach of the Public Distribution
System should be expanded and it must include important edible
items, books, and cloths, Masalas etc so that the poor can benefit
from this.
7. Hunger and starvation
are prevalent in Eastern Uttar-Pradesh. A majority of families do
not ration for two times. The children have uncertain future. It is
shameful that children from Mushahars, Chauhan, Rajbhar etc are
eating rats and fishermen are forced to survive on snails. We demand
the government to focus on these communities with special programmes
particularly developing schools in the villages with mid day meals
and other incentives for school children and their parents.
8. The government must
form special Land Courts to settle land disputes and implement the
land reform measures strongly and effectively. The government must
concentrate on giving communal entitlement. We also demand that
women should be given priority in allotment of agricultural land and
all new entitlement whether residential or agricultural should have
joint entitlement.
Today on the day of
culmination of Padyatra we commit ourselves to continue our struggle
for Land, Dignity and freedom. We will continue to make government
aware of the ground situation while fighting for our rights
democratically. We also want to make it clear that this war of
independence is not possible with out the support and alliance of
anti caste, anti communal, anti superstition and progressive forces
in which the role of women, Dalits, Most backward communities and
tribal have an important role to play. We also feel that this for
dignity and freedom we have to take inspiration from Baa Saheb
Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Bai Phule, and EV Ramaswamy Naicar.
They remain our icons and role models in our struggle for the
creation of a civil society.
Following organisations
signed the resolution
Uttar-Pradesh Land
Alliance,
Social Development
Foundation, Delhi
Food for Hungry
Foundation, Delhi
Dr B.R.Ambedkar Gramodyog
Sansthan, Deoria
Swachchakar Kalyan Samiti,
Ghazipur
Smt Sonia Gramin Mahila
avam Bal Kalyan Samiti, Deoria
Lord Buddha Trust,
Kushinagar
Hitkari Sewa Samiti,
Deoria
Jan Kalyan Sansthan,
Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur
Palanjivi Samiti,
Rudrapur, Deoria
Mushahar Shakti Sanghthan,
Deoria
Tharu Development
Society, Lakhimpur Khiri
Tal Ratoy Machchua Jan
Kalyan Sansthan, Mau
Bharatiya Jan Seva
Ashram, Jaunpur
Chitrakoot Sewa Ashram,
Chitrakoot
Dalit Mahila Mukti Morcha,
UP Machchua Adhikar Manch,
Rudrapur
and number of others